Sunday, September 25, 2011

This Wednesday at 8:30 PM in ICC 119, EcoAction is screening Tapped: the Movie, an award-winning documentary about the bottled water industry. There will be delicious food and awesome people, so make sure to come along, and bring your friends!

"Is access to clean drinking water a basic human right, or a commodity that should be bought and sold like any other article of commerce? Stephanie Soechtig's debut feature is an unflinching examination of the big business of bottled water.

From the producers of Who Killed the Electric Car and I.O.U.S.A., this timely documentary is a behind-the-scenes look into the unregulated and unseen world of an industry that aims to privatize and sell back the one resource that ought never to become a commodity: our water.

From the plastic production to the ocean in which so many of these bottles end up, this inspiring documentary trails the path of the bottled water industry and the communities which were the unwitting chips on the table. A powerful portrait of the lives affected by the bottled water industry, this revelatory film features those caught at the intersection of big business and the public's right to water."

Sunday, September 18, 2011

In Minnesota, colleges are facing a backlash after banning the sale of bottled water. The reason for the backlash? College Republicans say that the ban restricts "what students can and cannot do in their own free will."

(Psst...interested in bottled water? Come to EcoAction's screening of "Tapped" on Wednesday, September 30 at 8:30 PM, location TBD!)

Obama did do something right, though - in a message to Congress on Thursday, he announced diplomatic sanctions on Iceland over their commercial whale hunting.

"To the surprise of almost no one," the New York Times writes on its Green blog, the EPA is delaying issuing new rules to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. A commenter asks, "Can the EPA do anything about the smell emanating from the current Administration?"

Hey everyone, this is my very first blog post (embarrassing, I know) and since I have stagefright I’m going to keep this short and sweet. This is the first of what I’m sure will be many $HOUTOUTs (yes, I wrote it like that) to University administrators working to green the hilltop.

First off is Audrey Stewart, our alpha and omega of sustainability. Audrey is the Program Coordinator for Sustainability at Georgetown and she has been instrumental in getting students’ projects off the ground and connecting them to campus or D.C. resources. Since she arrived on campus, she has worked tirelessly on projects large and small within university administration to reduce our carbon footprint.

Erika Cohen-Derr, Director of Student Programs, is also a great friend of EcoAction and a proponent of sustainability on campus. She takes special care to incorporate student suggestions on how to reduce waste at student events like SAC Fair and Georgetown Day, and is helping us develop materials to train student group leaders in sustainability and reward them with “Green Organization” status.

Sunday, September 11, 2011

It's a new semester, and Renewable Energy Turns Me On is going to be continuing the Sunday blogrolls that started last semester. If you find any interesting articles throughout the week that you think should be featured, email them to mec234@georgetown.edu!

Top news this week was Obama's decision to pull back proposed air pollution standards for ground-level ozone, as The Washington Post reports. Obama considered the regulations too burdensome for the economy.

Students rally at the University of Richmond
Photo credit: Green UR's Flickr photostream

The tar sands protests didn't stop at the White House. When Obama visited the University of Richmond last week, students there organized a rally of their own to greet him.

Meanwhile, the New York Times reported that in the absence of strong federal oversight, pipeline operators are basically regulating themselves.

Jimmy Fallon and Eddie Vedder harmonize about the tar balls from last year's oil spill, which are washing ashore in the south because of Tropical Storm Lee.

An economist at the Environmental Defense Fund made a bold claim in the New York Times on Wednesday: without the right economic policies, individual action to protect the environment simply "does not work."

For all you vegetarians and vegans: Mother Jones looks into the growing science of in-vitro meat. It could be great for the environment, but would you eat it?

Greenpeace has good news: Google has finally decided to be transparent about its energy usage. Their stats are in - now it's Facebook's turn to come clean about its carbon footprint.

Thursday, September 8, 2011

N.B. : EcoAction does NOT endorse getting arrested. This article is written by a member of EcoAction but does not represent EcoAction as a group. The author did this action on her own, totally separate from EcoAction.

Getting arrested wasn’t part of my back-to-school plans. But there I was, a week after moving in for my junior year, in handcuffs in front of the White House.

The reason? A 1,700 mile pipeline that would carry viscous, dirty oil from the tar sands in Albert, Canada, through the United States to refineries in Texas. The pipeline, called the Keystone XL, would carry 900,000 barrels of oil a day. It would cross six states and over seventy rivers and streams, including the Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers. It would cross aquifers like the Ogallala Aquifer, which supplies water to two million Americans and supports $20 billion worth of agriculture. It would cut through farms and backyards, and disrupt indigenous communities like First Nations tribes in Canada and native tribes in the United States.

Monday, September 5, 2011

Hello EcoAction! Thanks for stopping by our table yesterday at SAC Fair. It was awesome to see new and familiar faces.

In the spirit of Georgetown, this year EcoAction is going to "think globally, act locally." We'll focus on university-based issues in our initiatives and campaigns, and on global issues for our larger events.

Our first meeting will be this Wednesday (9/7)at 6:30pm @Healy Lawn. We'll be eating delicious food from the Farmers Market, introducing EcoAction to new members, and talking about what's to come this year.

Last Tuesday, Matt Buccelli and I were invited on behalf of the College Democrats to participate in the Progressive Coalition Forum. What w...

About This Blog

This blog is the much-loved project of EcoAction, Georgetown University's student run environmental group. We will write posts about environmental issues on campus like energy sourcing and recycling. We also write posts about what's going on with policy, speakers, other groups, and events on campus and in the world.

Each post reflects the opinion of the author only and is not necessarily the opinion of EcoAction as a group, any individual or set of individuals who are or once were members of EcoAction or Georgetown University, or of Georgetown University as an institution.